Editor’s Note: This article was originally written by former KGOU Chief Engineer David White (1983-2006) and updated in 2013 by Chief Engineer Patrick Roberts (2007-present), and Operations Director Brian Hardzinski.

I'm sure many of you have experienced difficulties in picking up the KGOU broadcast signal at one time or another. Of course, obvious equipment failure in the broadcast transmission chain for KGOU's equipment could create listening difficulties.

However, there are more subtle things that can create occasional reception problems for the listener. FM broadcasting is normally a line-of-sight operation. Unfortunately, there are events in the world of atmospheric physics that can temporarily change this, making the signal nearly or totally un-listenable. In these cases, it is not your radio or KGOU's equipment.